It's All About That Cowboy

by Carly Bloom

  And wouldn’t that be a kicker?

  Plus, she just didn’t want anybody in Big Verde, not even Casey, knowing about Hope. There was no real threat from Wade anymore, but fear was strong glue for making habits stick.

  She steered Casey toward the fire pit. They could sit on one of the outdoor couches with their backs to the pool. In the moonlight, they’d just look like any two people.

  “I just meant wow. I hardly recognize the Château.”

  “It’s changed quite a bit since you and I—” Casey paused. Cleared his throat. “Since the last time we were here.”

  The last time they were here they’d made love. Made plans. Promised to be together forever.

  “They’ve got a fancy German chef now,” Casey continued. “Rumor has it, he’s trying to buy the restaurant from the hotel.”

  “Frederick Mueller,” Jessica said.

  Casey raised an eyebrow. “Somebody’s been keeping up with the news in Big Verde.”

  “You realize I work for Carmen Foraccio, right?”

  Casey gave her a blank look.

  “You’ve never heard of Carmen?”

  “The name sounds a bit familiar. Is she famous?”

  “Do you watch the Food Channel?”

  “Is that like a TV show?”

  “Oh my God. Um, well, it’s a network that features shows about food. And Carmen’s show is at the top. She’s a celebrity chef. Have you heard of La Casa Bleu? Or Funky Fusions?”

  “JD and I ate at La Casa Bleu when we were roping in Vegas. Italian food.”

  “Well, it’s Italian and French. It’s a fusion place. There’s one in Houston too. It’s the original location.”

  “Oh really? Do you eat there often?”

  “I manage it,” Jessica said proudly.

  “Wow, Jess. That’s pretty amazing.” A huge smile lit up Casey’s face.

  “What are you so happy about?”

  “It’s just that, well, you said that’s what you wanted to do, right? Run a fancy restaurant like the Village Château? And look at you. You’re doing it. And a famous one, at that.”

  As a kid, Jessica had been practically obsessed with the Village Château restaurant. It represented high society to her—Big Verde style—and she’d longed to be the kind of person who ate there regularly.

  “They had pretty good spaghetti,” Casey added with a wink.

  “You got spaghetti?”

  “The most expensive spaghetti I’ve ever eaten in my life. Although I think it had a special French sauce on it, so maybe that was why. Is Carmen the chef?”

  “She used to be. And she still oversees the menu and all the recipes. Everything is made according to her specifications. But she doesn’t spend much time in the kitchen anymore. Her show takes up most of her time.”

  “Funky Fusions,” Casey said. “I think I’ve seen it. She goes around eating all kinds of crazy shit, right?”

  Jessica laughed. “That’s the show.”

  They arrived at the fire pit. From here, they could still hear occasional giggles and shrieks from Hope, but they were muffled by breezes and distance.

  Jessica sat and patted the seat next to her, hoping Casey would hurry up and join her. The lighting was dim—ground sconces and the glow of the fire—but she didn’t trust that someone couldn’t make them out if they looked really hard. And Carmen was nosy.

  “Somebody’s having fun over there,” Casey said with a grin, looking over his shoulder at the pool.

  Jessica grabbed his hand and yanked. “Sit.”

  It wasn’t very effective, as far as yanks went. Casey was over six feet of solid muscle, and he glanced down at her like she was a tiny kitten yanking his chain.

  “Hold your horses,” he said, and then he sat down next to her and stretched out his long legs, crossing his ankles and revealing some really nice cowboy boots. His slacks were gray, and there was no gun or badge on his belt. His shirt was white, and Jessica watched as his fingers nimbly loosened his tie.

  She swallowed as those same fingers then trailed down his shirt to settle on his thigh, which was hard and muscular and straining the fabric of his slacks. When she succeeded in wrenching her eyes away from that lovely vision and directing them back to Casey’s face, she was met by a very sexy smirk.

  Followed by a wink.

  “That margarita getting to you?”

  Maybe just a little. The brain freeze had melted into a warm glow.

  “How did you end up in law enforcement?”

  “Surprised?”

  “Understatement.”

  Casey laughed. “Well, believe it, or not, I got in some trouble after the bull riding didn’t work out. Nothing awful. Just fighting and drinking. I think I was embarrassing the family.”

  She’d worried that Casey might fall back into his wild ways after she’d left. And it seems he had.

  “And?”

  Casey stared at the fire, appearing relaxed. “Aunt Mavis made me volunteer my time to help some truly troubled youth. Kids with real problems, way bigger than mine. And I discovered I was pretty good at it. So, I decided to get a degree in criminal justice.”

  A warm swell of pride spread throughout her chest. “I knew you could do it, Casey,” she whispered.

  He looked up, the reflection of the flames dancing in his blue eyes. “It was hard,” he said. “Without you.”

  Then why didn’t he come after her? Why did he ignore her letters?

  The words were on the tip of her tongue. Just ask him.

  She took a deep breath, but Casey started talking again. “I was a cop in San Antonio for a couple of years. I didn’t much care for city life, so I came home. Decided to run for sheriff.”

  “Family tradition,” Jessica said, hoping the bitterness didn’t show in her voice.

  “I know what Wade did, Jess.”

  Jessica’s head snapped up. Her pulse pounded in her head. “You do?”

  “He’s a crook. Hell, he fixed my record. He threw his weight around. God only knows what all shit he was…is…wrapped up in. Aunt Mavis was ashamed of him. She actually told me so once.”

  So, he didn’t know. Not specifically.

  He uncrossed his legs and turned to face her. They were suddenly mighty close. She could smell his aftershave. His eyes locked on hers, and she clenched the cushion of the seat to keep from falling right into those baby blues.

  Casey didn’t blink. “I’m not like Wade. This is my county. My town. My people. And I take care of them.”

  If she’d thought Casey Long the bad boy had turned her on, it was only because she’d never met Casey Long the good guy. She wanted to grab that stern face and kiss it senseless.

  “Do you remember what happened here?” she blurted.

  Casey furrowed his brow, as if she’d said something offensive. “How could I ever forget it, Jess?” Then his expression softened, and he gently touched her cheek with his thumb. “It was my first time.”

  The touch of his thumb on her cheek sent shivers all the way to her toes. “Oh, you’re sticking to that story?” she asked, feeling a little breathless.

  Casey smiled. “I am totally sticking to that story. Because it’s the truth. And I’m pretty sure you know it, based on my performance. I don’t think I made it to the eight-second buzzer.”

  Jessica laughed at the bull riding reference. But sincerity shone in Casey’s eyes. She’d been his first. And if he hadn’t been lying about that, was he telling the truth about everything else? Had he truly been in love with her?

  His eyes had darkened, and he leaned in even closer. She stared at his lips and brushed his chin with her fingers.

  “I’m better now,” he said. “I can go well past eight seconds.”

  “Had lots of practice?” Jessica asked with an embarrassingly shaky voice.

  “I wouldn’t say lots. But I know where all the important spots are.” The lips she couldn’t take her eyes off of curled up in an adorable smirk. “And I know just what to
do to them.”

  She believed him. He was practically doing it with his eyes. And all of her important spots were responding appropriately. She squeezed her thighs together as Casey’s eyes settled on her lips.

  Was it the margarita making her feel this way? No. There wasn’t enough alcohol in it to lead to wherever this was going. The only thing leading her now was her heart.

  And her important spots. Which were pretty much on fire.

  The look in Casey’s eyes promised he could put out fires, no problem.

  As if on cue, the fire in the pit suddenly went out, making Jessica gasp.

  “Must be ten o’clock,” Casey said. “That means the pool is closed.”

  Oh dear. Jessica looked back at the pool. Carmen and Hope were both out, wrapping themselves in towels. There was nobody else around.

  “The lights and pit are on a timer,” Casey added. “That’s why the fire went out.”

  “Not out entirely,” she muttered. Then she put her hand to her mouth, because she hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

  Casey gently pulled her hand away. “Let’s see what we can do about that,” he said, bringing his lips to hers.

  Chapter Eight

  Her lips. God, even better than he remembered. In some ways, he was reliving the past—this was Jess, his Jess—but he was also navigating new territory. New delicious territory.

  This was grown-up Jess. And grown-up Jess knew how to kiss.

  She pressed her breasts into his chest, and he ran his hand down her back, mapping all the womanly curves and planes of her body. When he got to her hip, she twisted to give him better access, and he slipped his hand beneath to cup her nice, round ass.

  She responded with a moan that nearly made him come undone.

  He was impossibly hard. What he had going on couldn’t be referred to as wood. It was more like granite. And speaking of undone, she had his tie off. He didn’t even know when that had happened. Her fingers traveled the trail of his shirt’s buttons.

  She sighed against his lips. “We’re in public.”

  Did she mean We’re in public so we need to stop or We’re in public and I’m seriously turned on?

  She pulled away and gazed at him. There was just a sliver of a moon, but it lit up her eyes.

  “We’re probably doing a little more than we should out here. Somebody might see us,” she said.

  They hadn’t done nearly enough.

  Casey glanced around. “It’s pretty dark out. They’d have to walk right up on us.”

  Jess licked her plump lips, already swollen from kissing. Her chest rose and fell quickly, but she wasn’t quite breathless. And Casey wanted her breathless.

  “But someone might do that,” Jess said. “Walk right up on us.”

  Casey shifted nervously. He was the sheriff. Having sex in a public place probably wasn’t the smartest idea he’d ever had. Jessica definitely brought out something wild in him, but his days of living on the wild side were over.

  “Let’s go to your room,” he suggested. “That seems like a better plan.”

  Jessica had his shirt unbuttoned and was staring at his chest. It was probably a bit broader and more muscled than when he was a skinny kid in high school, and it definitely had more hair.

  “Jess, did you hear me? Your room?”

  She looked back to his eyes with a sheepish little grin on her face. He couldn’t know for sure in the dim lighting, but he suspected she was blushing. She sighed deeply. “Actually, that won’t work. I’m not traveling alone.”

  Ah. He should have guessed that with the Porsche. “Carmen?”

  “Yes,” Jess said. Casey followed her gaze to the second floor of the hotel, where a balcony light was on. The other rooms were dark. While the restaurant did a booming business with travelers and locals alike, the hotel didn’t see much activity during the off-season.

  He wasn’t going to let this opportunity get away. But they couldn’t keep making out by the fire pit. It had been a blissfully long time since a Long Family scandal, and Casey would like to continue that streak.

  His place was up in the hills, only about fifteen minutes away, but he suspected if Jess had time to think about things, she’d cool off. Hell, if he had time to think about things…

  Nah. He wasn’t going to cool off. If anything, he was heating up even more.

  He scanned the area. There was a patch of cedar trees, but they wouldn’t provide enough cover. And besides, he and Jess weren’t going to bang on the ground like animals.

  He glanced at Jess. She was biting her bottom lip and eyeing his chest and looking every bit as if she was all in for banging on the ground like animals.

  A loud humming sound started up as the pool pump kicked in. The pump and other equipment were concealed behind a wooden fence surrounded by shrubbery. You had to go through a little gate to get in there; Casey knew this because he’d once been called out to investigate a violent racoon. Such was life as a small-town county sheriff.

  The enclosed area was roomy enough to hold a chaise lounge, of which there were plenty by the pool.

  Jess saw where he was looking.

  “What’s behind the fence?”

  “Pool equipment.”

  “We couldn’t—”

  Oh yes, they could. Casey jumped up and walked to the pool. He picked out a sturdy chaise lounge, hoisted it up, and carried it past the fire pit to the gate that led inside the small fenced-in area.

  Jessica hurried over. “What do you think we’re going to do on that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll lounge? Look at the stars? Make out like fiends?”

  “What if somebody is watching us right now?”

  There wasn’t a soul around. “Even if someone were looking from one of the windows, they couldn’t possibly see anything other than shadows, and besides, we’re about to be hidden by this nifty fence.”

  “You sound pretty sure about that.”

  He extended a hand. “Come on, Jess. Let’s do something wild.”

  * * *

  Casey Long stood in the shadows with his shirt open, looking dangerous as hell and holding out a hand. How many times had Jessica dreamed of feeling his touch again? She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was dreaming.

  Nothing could come of a hookup with Casey. Jessica would be back at her crazy life in Houston on Monday, and she and Casey would probably never talk to each other again. But for now…

  “Okay,” she blurted.

  It had been a long time since she’d done anything that could be considered even remotely wild or risky.

  Casey gently pulled her in and closed the gate behind them. She went straight into his arms and pressed against him. God, she loved the feel of him. So tall—he’d always been tall—but now he was also big. She rose on her toes and kissed him, eliciting a sexy groan that was louder than the hum of the pool equipment.

  “Shit, Jess,” he said against her lips. “You taste so good.”

  He abandoned her lips and went down her jaw to her neck, licking the sensitive skin behind her ear. “I want to taste all of you,” he whispered. “Every inch.”

  Jessica’s breath hitched. Was he talking about what she thought he was? The one time they’d been together had been sweet, but they’d both been inexperienced. She hadn’t even known about that particular activity, much less experienced it.

  Casey’s hands roamed beneath her T-shirt as he kissed her neck. Her knees were so weak they probably wouldn’t hold her up much longer.

  As if sensing her imminent collapse, Casey steered her toward the chaise lounge. “Sit,” he ordered, with a low and raspy voice.

  Jessica followed instructions, and Casey pressed the back of the chair all the way down. Then he stood over her, running his hands through his hair and gazing down as if she were a feast and he couldn’t decide where to start.

  “You’ve filled out a little,” she said, staring at his chest.

  “So have you,” he replied, staring at hers.r />
  His eyes shone with lust, which Jessica greatly appreciated. But she’d done a little more than fill out. She was thirty and although she was in good shape, her body reflected the years. She didn’t have saggy old-lady boobs, but they weren’t exactly perky anymore, either. She wanted to tell Casey he’d missed her best years, but her best years had been spent working, going to school, and taking care of her mom and Hope.

  Everybody had missed her best years, including her.

  Casey took his shirt off, dropping it to the ground. Ho. Lee. Cow.

  The man looked like a Greek god. Broad, chiseled chest with way more hair than she remembered. Hard, sculpted abs. Her fingers itched to explore.

  “Your turn,” he said, sitting on the chaise next to her. The chair creaked and sank into the grass.

  Insecurity crept in. “I don’t know that I want to take anything all the way off. We might need to make a run for it.”

  “I’ll accept that for now,” he said, running his hand beneath her shirt, up her belly, and between her breasts, and dragging her T-shirt with it. “But next time, everything is coming off.”

  Next time? Was he really thinking there would be a—

  Her thought was interrupted by Casey lifting her bra up over her breasts, not even bothering to unclasp it. He let out a shuddering sigh as he stared. “God, woman. You’re gorgeous.”

  Before Jessica could say a word, Casey bent over and covered a nipple with his warm mouth.

  That was it. She was gone. Run for it? Ha! If anyone walked up on them now, Jessica wouldn’t even know it.

  Casey’s hand trailed up her leg to the inside of her thigh. When had she opened her legs? Probably as soon as she’d felt his lips on her breast. She panted embarrassingly as his fingers traced ticklish patterns on her skin.

  The jean cutoffs were pretty short. Shorter than a woman Jessica’s age should wear them, but right now they were coming in handy, as Casey had no trouble slipping his fingers inside the denim. He brushed her panties, and she moaned and arched her back. The combination of what his fingers were doing and what his lips were doing was almost too much.